‘Heroic’ driver gets kids off school bus just before it catches fire, NC district says
.JPG "A school bus driver is being hailed a hero after saving kids in North Carolina. This is a file photo.")
A “heroic” driver got 38 kids off a school bus just before it caught fire in North Carolina, news outlets reported.
The bus was traveling to Benhaven Elementary School when the driver smelled smoke Tuesday, Nov. 14. Then she jumped into action, pulling to the side of a road and evacuating the bus, Natalie Ferrell, a spokesperson for Harnett County Schools, told The Sanford Herald and The Daily Record.
Just minutes later, flames ripped through the bus. Photos shared with news outlets show the bus with fire damage, while another picture shows smoke billowing into the air.
Now, the school bus driver — identified in news reports as Monica Tyson-Crawford — is being praised.
“Our driver is an absolute hero and looked after each and every one of the kids on that bus,” Bradley Abate, a Harnett County school board member, wrote in a statement to WNCN. “Our driver smelled smoke, pulled over, and ushered the kids to safety. Without our driver’s quick thinking and heroic actions, this definitely could have ended very differently.”
News outlets report that no one was injured after the harrowing moments unfolded near the elementary school, in Sanford and roughly 55 miles southwest of Raleigh.
The Benhaven Fire Department said it responded to the blaze, which was put out quickly, WNCN reported. Though the cause of the fire was still under investigation as of Nov. 14, early evidence doesn’t point to an engine malfunction, according to WNCN and WRAL.
Benhaven fire officials referred McClatchy News to the Harnett County Fire Marshal’s office, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for information on Nov. 15. The Harnett County school district also didn’t immediately share additional details about the burning bus.
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 12:24 PM with the headline "‘Heroic’ driver gets kids off school bus just before it catches fire, NC district says."
